Fine Friday: Summer, Summer, Summer Time

Nicky8 Comments

 It’s hard to conceptualize that in just a little over 1 week, we’ll be starting Summer!  I’m going to ignore the speed at which the year is passing and just focus on the fact that with Summer, comes heat and humidity.  And if we’re not careful — dehydration!  So to start you prepping for all those long, hot, glorious days,  I’m sharing with you 20 smoothie recipes that I absolutely love.  What could be more refreshing as you enjoy your summer activities than a delicious and very nutritious drink.  A drink made by your own hand, with no added sugar or preservation ingredients which require the use of a linguist to help you pronounce them.

Mind you, although I’ve reproduced all of them over the years, I never get tired of them; they’re pretty addictive.  What I love is that they’re almost all seasonal so you don’t have to go further than your supermarket and local farmer’s markets for the ingredients.

Use the recipes as templates, then concoct your own.  I don’t use Splenda, Stevia and the like, so when I make mine, I ignore the sugar ingredient (if listed) and just let the fruit do their thing.  If I do use sugar, I use raw brown sugar sparingly.  Another tip: don’t skimp on substituting some veggies when you redo these.  All fruit and no veggies make us not very balanced ladies.  😀

Here’s to staying deliciously cool!

 

 

 

WIP Wednesday

Nicky13 Comments

By the time you see this post, I would have finished playing catch up with my Mood Blanket.  I have four more rounds to add to the below before I’m caught up.  The rounds are really getting long now but I’ve been powering through while watching a variety of BBC & HBO T.V. series.  The long rounds seem to go faster while I watch T.V. — go figure since I’m not really a T.V. watcher.  My goal is to make this my Sunday afternoon project.  Doing one round every Sunday until the end shouldn’t be too tough.  Although I have 29 more rounds to go, I have to say so far — it’s beautiful!  I keep staring at it; it’s actually kinda mesmerizing.  LOLOL!  But I have not been mesmerized to the point where it’s stopping me from casting on something else.   😀

Mood Blanket 061114

I’ve  cast on the Hitchhiker pattern from Martina Behm.  My love for this designer knows no bounds … well for her and Erika Knight, but I’ll talk about that another time.   😀   The Hitchhiker is a pattern that I’ve wanted to make for a long time but just never did … well … until now.  I’m using KnitPicks new line — Hawthorne in Nob Hill.  The pattern is easy enough for a newbie, but if you’re not careful, it’s easy to lose track of where you are row wise.   Good thing I have my trusty Knit Tink row counting app on my Android phone to keep me on track.

Hitchhiker 61114

So far so good; I really like how this hand-painted line is working up.  I’m really not a fan of hand painted yarn but this coupling — the Hitchhiker pattern and Hawthorne Nob Hill — has turned out to be awesome so far.   There are subtle changes in the purple/lilac theme with some cream nicely interspersed throughout.  So far, the pooling in this yarn is working out just fine — nice and even like I like it.  Not crazy like some hand-painted yarns can get sometimes.  I hope it stays this way.

I’m definitely having a great time working on these two projects.  What are you working on that’s giving you the happies?  😀

Linking with Tami and WIP Wednesday meme.